Ortega aggravates political repression in Nicaragua with the arrest of more opposition presidential candidates

Nicaraguan police detained opposition presidential candidate Juan Sebastián Chamorro on Tuesday, about eight hours after the arrest of opposition candidate Félix Maradiaga, local authorities reported in a statement.

According to the police, Chamorro was arrested Tuesday night at his residence in the southeast of the capital, Managua, as part of an investigation

"for carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty, and self-determination, inciting foreign interference. in internal affairs, ask for military interventions

.

"

He is also being investigated for “organizing with financing from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization, propose and manage economic, commercial and financial operations blockades against the country and its institutions, demand, exalt and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and injure the supreme interests of the nation ”.

Chamorro is the fourth opposition presidential hopeful to be detained in the last week in Nicaragua.

The Judiciary has kept journalist Cristiana Chamorro under house arrest and police surveillance for six days, while on Monday he sent economist and former diplomat Arturo Cruz to prison for three months.

Chamorro is the first cousin of Cristiana Chamorro and

nephew of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro,

who ruled from 1990 to 1997.

Earlier this Tuesday, the police arrested Félix Maradiaga, a pre-candidate of the opposition Blue and White National Unit (UNAB) party, after summoning him to testify before the Prosecutor's Office, in

an interrogation that lasted about four hours.

Daniel Ortega detains a second opposition candidate for the presidency of Nicaragua

June 6, 202100: 23

Juan Sebastián Chamorro, former director of the Civic Alliance, an opposition group formed with

the intention of establishing a dialogue with the Government after the social unrest of April 2018,

had been summoned to testify before the Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.

Through a statement, the Prosecutor's Office indicated that there is a case against the NGO Fundación Nicaragüense para el Desarrollo Social, which Chamorro led until 2018.

Tiziano Breda, analyst for Central America at Crisis Group, an NGO aimed at preventing and resolving conflicts, said that President Daniel Ortega serves several purposes with the arrest of presidential hopefuls.

Nicaraguan opposition activist Félix Maradiaga, center, sings the national anthem during a press conference in Managua, Nicaragua, on September 18, 2019.AP Photo / Alfredo Zuniga, File

"First, it

sends a message to mobilize the Sandinista base,

reinforcing its narrative that the 2018 street protests were a foreign-backed coup attempt," Breda explained.

"Secondly, it is a

show of force intended to provoke divisions within the opposition

and force it to make a decision to support a lesser candidate or not participate in the elections," he added, and "finally, it

tests the limits for see what the international community will tolerate by

giving enough room before the November elections to allow negotiations. "

"Ortega is

trying to eliminate those who clearly represent possibly a greater challenge,

a greater risk of being able to accumulate enough sympathy to challenge him in the elections," Breda concluded.

The sanctions imposed by the United States and by people close to Ortega and key figures in his government

have

clearly

annoyed him, but have not led him to produce concessions,

the analyst added.

America's diplomatic reach, which the Crisis Group recommended in a report last month, would represent an alternative strategy for the Joe Biden administration.

Breda added that so far Ortega, who could be prosecuted for crimes against humanity once he leaves office,

has not received an incentive to resign from power.

Journalists and protesters disperse with shoves during the arrest of a presidential candidate in Nicaragua

June 2, 202100: 40

The opposition has rejected these arrests and

accuses the Ortega government of unleashing a "repressive onslaught" to prevent the holding of "free and competitive" elections

on November 7, when the Sandinista president, who ruled from 1985 to 1990 and returned to the power in 2007, he will seek his third re-election for a fourth consecutive presidential term.

The vice president and first lady, Rosario Murillo, referred for the second day in a row to the investigations of the Prosecutor's Office against opponents, whom she called "terrorists" and "criminals."

"They believe they are eternally unpunished, [but] justice arrives, late, but it arrives, in this Nicaragua that has been prospering and reconciling and in a beautiful and exemplary model of alliances for the well-being of all," said Murillo, alluding to the pact that Ortega had with the private company until the social rebellion of 2018.